Portfolio Mgmt - how long?

I have not started Portfolio Management as yet but I had browsed it briefly a while back. How long does it take to go through it well the first time? I have SS 12 and SS 13 of Equity Valuation to complete and then start with PM, and freaking out a bit that I need to start taking practice exams soon. Just curious how long people took to complete PM the first time. Are the Schweser videos on the topic helpful?

Are you using schweser or the CFAI materials?

Schweser only, no time for CFAI right now. May get to CFAI questions if I get time.

I think it took me about 3 nights at 3 hours a night to get through all of it, but I am pretty slow compared to others on the boards here. That would include doing end of chapter CC and a 60 question q bank test too.

Portfolio Management is the game breaker. Don’t take it too lightly. The majority of the level 2 repeaters were devastated with card board tubes and gerbils with this section last year. Schweser covered nothing that was tested!

L2 repeater : PM rocked us last exam take all your time to grasp the concepts

Port Mgt is not a game breaker. The only reason anybody got “rocked” by what was a supposedly easy question set on TB last year was that it wasn’t covered by Schweser. Noone failed because they blew TB last year, they failed because they blew a 5% T/B question set AND 25%+ of the rest of the test. It’s not weighted extremely heavy and thus I would not recommend spending an inordinate amount of time on it. It’s intuitive and like MWVT said, 3 days or so is plenty. I would however, recommend using CFAI materials for this section as I repeatedly hear people comment that Schweser does not adequately cover it in comparison to CFAI books.

For me I’ve spent 4 days on it and I think I have one more to go. 3-4 hours per day doing a lot of questions and going back and re-reading, and taking a ton of notes. Pretty in depth stuff compared to some of the other SS in my opinion. I went through CFAI material and Schweser, and video’s.

KnightRider Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I have not started Portfolio Management as yet but > I had browsed it briefly a while back. How long > does it take to go through it well the first time? > > > I have SS 12 and SS 13 of Equity Valuation to > complete and then start with PM, and freaking out > a bit that I need to start taking practice exams > soon. > > Just curious how long people took to complete PM > the first time. > > Are the Schweser videos on the topic helpful? You are freaking out? Last time I checked, we were still in April.

It’s pretty lengthy and to be honest, you’re better off reading the Schweser notes to get the big picture and then reading the CFAI books for the details. Make sure you go through the end of chapter questions because they’re helpful. It took me about 3 days of a lot of reading to get through it and even then I didn’t remember anything from the multifactor models section. I had to read another book that summarized everything into about 10 pages and after that I was able to breeze through the material. It’s a lot of material and a lot of detail, so if it’s all new to you it’s ok to feel a bit overwhelmed at first. Good luck

I was just gang raped jail house style on a Qbank with intermediate/advanced questions. Just after I think I have derivatives down, portfolio management goes down the tube. Whoever made that comment that studying for this test is like trying to carry a giant load of laundry (you drop one sock, pick it up, but you drop another) was dead on.

That was me in one of my brighter moments.

Portfolio Management should be handled with extreme care. The hilarious thing about TB is that it even says in the text that this model has not caught on. USE THE CFAI MATERIALS. Schweser is okay, but the level of detail needed is lacking in my view.

Black Swan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Port Mgt is not a game breaker. The only reason > anybody got “rocked” by what was a supposedly easy > question set on TB last year was that it wasn’t > covered by Schweser. Noone failed because they > blew TB last year, they failed because they blew a > 5% T/B question set AND 25%+ of the rest of the > test. It’s not weighted extremely heavy and thus > I would not recommend spending an inordinate > amount of time on it. It’s intuitive and like > MWVT said, 3 days or so is plenty. I would > however, recommend using CFAI materials for this > section as I repeatedly hear people comment that > Schweser does not adequately cover it in > comparison to CFAI books. It might serve you better to listen to humble people who are willing to suffer the humiliation of failing a level and sharing what parts they collectively found difficult. Running your mouth in several threads about “it is straightfoward, easy, isn’t a deal break, they cut corners and relied on Schweser” is portraying you on a bit of an ego trip and you are coming off quite arrogant. Go back and read the threads that followed the June 2007 exam and you’ll find the overwhelming opinion of how tricky TB was. Did they all fail? No, but it was the proverbial straw that broke many backs…including many who scored above 70% in FSA and Equity (including myself); you’ll also find that it didn’t seem to matter whether you studied with CFAI, Schweser, or Stalla…the majority of people were caught off guard by the topic and that is worth stressing.

Didn’t mean to be an ego trip, however, I think TB has been blown WAY out of proportion, and am only posting my perspectives because I’m afraid people will get tunnel vision and create a similar oversight by targeting Port Mgt and TB too much. Not to mention I have gone back and done my homework and read the post 2007 threads. My perspective is that alot of people treated PM as a free-bee the way it was in LI. Obviously the attitude of people won’t let it happen again. I myself have read the CFAI texts on Port Mgt 3 times already and done the full set of questions. So obviously, I’m not toying with it, however I’m treating it the same as every other topic I’m studying.

I agree with your “tunnel vision” concern, but I remember when I took LI hearing repeaters complain how hard GIPS was. If I hadn’t read those comments I likely wouldn’t have given it the respect that topic deserved; I’m glad I listened as it was heavily tested. Just try to be respectful when many people, who failed the exam, try to help by giving their opinion of certain topic areas.

Touché Sponge Bob, touché…

“Port Mgt is not a game breaker. The only reason anybody got “rocked” by what was a supposedly easy question set on TB last year was that it wasn’t covered by Schweser. Noone failed because they blew TB last year, they failed because they blew a 5% T/B question set AND 25%+ of the rest of the test. It’s not weighted extremely heavy and thus I would not recommend spending an inordinate amount of time on it. It’s intuitive and like MWVT said, 3 days or so is plenty. I would however, recommend using CFAI materials for this section as I repeatedly hear people comment that Schweser does not adequately cover it in comparison to CFAI books.” Black Swan is quickly becoming my least favorite person on the boards.

Caspian, your just bitter from the last thread. SB, I see your point and maybe should have worded it differently, but stick to my full point.

Black Swan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Port Mgt is not a game breaker. The only reason > anybody got “rocked” by what was a supposedly easy > question set I’m sorry because I don’t usually say things like this - but this post is crap.